Swiss watchmakers are confident they can grow sales this year even in the face of a cooling Chinese economy, executives told Reuters at an industry fair on Thursday, as demand strengthens in other markets like the United States and Britain. Tags: Money, China, businessNews, United States, Reuters

After the US exhausted all meaningful economic and legal sanctions against Maduro and his inner circle, and despite threats that direction action or violence against Guido or his supporters would potentially result in military action...
Maduro black-bagged Guido's chief of staff at zero-dark-thirty this morning.
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Thursday intelligence agents had detained his chief of staff during a pre-... Tags: US, Venezuela, Weapon, Nicolás Maduro, Political News and Discussion, Reuters, Caracas, Maduro, Guido, Trump Pence, Juan Guaido

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Global investment powerhouse KKR & Co Inc is raising its first Asia-focused real estate fund, targeting $1.5 billion as it looks to deepen its real estate portfolio in the region, said people with knowledge of the matter.
The New York-headquartered private equity firm is moving toward first-close of the fund late in the second quarter, the people said, declining to be named as the information is confidential.
The firm itself will commit about $250 million in capital, and po... Tags: Asia, Hong Kong, New York, India, Trends, Asia Pacific, Funds, Goldman Sachs, Seoul, KKR, Reuters, Reuters Global, Blackstone Group, CLSA, Gangnam, Pattar

The details revealed at a press conference corroborated a Reuters report on Wednesday that was based on three sources with knowledge of the cockpit voice recorder's contents. Investigators said they have 90 percent of the data needed for a final report on the October crash that killed 189 people. Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator at Indonesia's national transportation committee (KNKT) said the recording showed there was "panic" in the cockpit in the last 20 seconds of the flight. Tags: News, Indonesia, Reuters, Lion Air, KNKT, Nurcahyo Utomo

Volvo is installing cameras and sensors in its cars from the early 2020s, monitoring drivers for signs of being drunk or distracted and intervening to prevent accidents. These new safety features come a couple weeks after the automaker announced it will limit the top speed to 112mph on all its new cars from 2020 to help reduce the number of accidents. Reuters reports: Head of R&D Henrik Green said cameras will be installed on all Volvo models built on its SPA2 platform for larger cars, starting ... Tags: Tech, Cma, Volvo, Reuters, Hakan Samuelsson, Henrik Green

In Washington, Reuters reports that Brazil and the US haven’t made progress on negotiations regarding a renewal of the ethanol quota for US exports to Brazil that expires in a few months due to Washington’s lack of interest in negotiating further sugar market access in exchange. The Brazilian agriculture minister told Reuters in an interview that talks between the two countries’ presidents and senior staff didn’t make much headroom on agriculture at all such as beef and pork. Tags: Washington, US, Policy, Brazil, Ethanol, Reuters

The operation to take Islamic State's last enclave in eastern Syria looked close to an end on Wednesday, with no sign of clashes as U.S.-backed fighters said they were combing the area for hidden jihadists. Reuters reporters overlooking Baghouz from a hill on the bank of the Euphrates at the Iraqi border said the area was calm, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia searched for tunnels and landmines, an SDF official said. The SDF on Tuesday captured an encampment where the jihadists h... Tags: News, Islamic State, Syria, Reuters, SDF, Euphrates, Syrian Democratic Forces SDF, Baghouz

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Shares in Germany's Bayer's fell more than 12 percent on Wednesday after a second U.S. jury ruled its Roundup weed killer caused cancer. Tuesday's unanimous jury decision in San Francisco federal court was not a finding of Bayer's liability for the cancer of plaintiff Edwin Hardeman. Liability and damages will be decided by the same jury in a second trial phase beginning on Wednesday. Bayer, which denies allegations that glyphosate or Roundup cau... Tags: California, Germany, San Francisco, Tech, United States, Monsanto, Bayer, Reuters, Hodgkin, HARDEMAN, Chhabria, Vince Chhabria, Edwin Hardeman

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices rose to a four-month high above $60 a barrel after government data showed tightening oil supplies in the United States, but gains were capped by concerns over global economic growth due to the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. Tags: New York, Science, China, United States, Reuters

Oil majors rush to dominate U.S. shale as independents scale back | Reuters:In New Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert, Exxon Mobil Corp is building a massive shale oil project that its executives boast will allow it to ride out the industry’s notorious boom-and-bust cycles.Workers at its Remuda lease near Carlsbad - part of a staff of 5,000 spread across New Mexico and Texas - are drilling wells, operating fleets of hydraulic pumps and digging trenches for pipelines.The sprawling site reflects the massi... Tags: Travel, Texas, New Mexico, Reuters, Carlsbad, Permian Basin, Rupert Neil Bumfrey, Chihuahuan Desert Exxon Mobil Corp, Drillinginfo Inc, Remuda

Google is widely expected to be handed a third antitrust fine in Europe this week, with reports suggesting the European Commission’s decision in its long-running could land later today.
Right on cue the search giant has PRed another Android product tweak — which it bills as “supporting choice and competition in Europe”.
In the coming months Google says it will start prompting users of existing and new Android devices in Europe to ask which browser and search apps they would like to us... Tags: Apple, Google, Android, Mobile, Apps, Spotify, Europe, France, Tech, Eu, European Union, Search Engines, Smartphone, Image Search, Policy, Chrome Os

At least two tankers have ferried Iranian fuel oil to Asia in recent months despite U.S. sanctions against such shipments, according to a Reuters analysis of ship-tracking data and port information, as well as interviews with brokers and traders. Tags: Asia, Money, Iran, businessNews, Reuters

Qatar to launch energy-focused Islamic bank with $10 billion capital | Reuters:Qatar will launch an energy-focused Islamic lender later this year with a targeted capital of $10 billion to finance both domestic and global projects, an executive said on Tuesday.Tiny but wealthy Qatar is one of the most influential players in the liquefied natural gas market with annual production of about 77 million tonnes, and it plans to increase this over 40 percent to 110 million by 2024.Speaking at an Islamic... Tags: Travel, Qatar, Doha, Reuters, Islamic Finance, Rupert Neil Bumfrey, Energy Bank

Oil holds near 2019 highs ahead of official U.S weekly data | Reuters:Oil prices held close to four-month highs on Tuesday on expectations that OPEC would continue production cuts through the end of the year and ahead of official weekly U.S. crude inventory data.Brent crude oil futures settled 7 cents higher at $67.61 a barrel, the global benchmark’s highest settlement since November 2018.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures touched its highest since November at $59.57 a barrel but finishe... Tags: Travel, Opec, Reuters, U S West Texas Intermediate WTI, Rupert Neil Bumfrey

MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi inches up after index inclusion, Egypt hits 3-month low | Reuters:Saudi Arabia's stock index edged up on Tuesday after touching a near-four year high on Monday, which was its first day as a member of FTSE Russell's emerging-market index.Egypt's blue-chip index, meanwhile, was pulled down by a wide sell-off to its biggest intra-day loss this year.Saudi's Tadawul index will have a weighting of 2.9 percent in the FTSE Emerging All Cap Index and later this year will join the MSC... Tags: Travel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Reuters, Tadawul, MSCI, Russell, Rupert Neil Bumfrey

MAPUTO/HARARE (Reuters) - The number of people killed in a powerful cyclone and flooding in Mozambique has risen above 200, more than doubling the country's death toll from a storm that could rank as one of the worst weather-related disasters in the southern hemisphere. Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi said in a televised statement following a cabinet meeting on the disaster on Tuesday that the death toll after Cylone Idai now stood at more than 200, up from 84. Winds of up to 170 kph (105 ... Tags: Science, Africa, United Nations, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Reuters, Filipe Nyusi, MAPUTO HARARE, Cylone Idai

Confidence among Japanese manufacturers hit its weakest in two-and-a-half years in March, a Reuters poll showed, as global trade friction fuelled concerns that a postwar record growth cycle driven by Abenomics may be over. Tags: Japan, Money, businessNews, Abenomics, Reuters, Reuters Tankan